Episode 1576 (17 February 1998)
Synopsis Lorna goes to the corner shop again. Mary comments that she's becoming quite a regular. Lorna pretends she couldn't find something and Mary goes to fetch it and Lorna steals a bottle of cider while she's looking away. She drinks it and then turns up at the refuge again, where Alex says they are closed and can't take her in. Sarah is horrified and says they have to, but Alex says there are no staff, he has to go to open the hostel, and they're not insured to have people in there with no staff. Sarah insists, but Alex is adamant and Sarah takes Lorna home instead. Irene, as one might expect, is horrified at having a filthy drunk installed on their sofa. Irene has had problems of her own and Terry's unsympathetic attitude about her DSS problem caused them to have a blazing row, after which she threw him out of the house because he'd bought a bottle of whisky with their last few pounds. Lorna has a surreptitious swig from the bottle of whisky, and Irene is furious, saying if she'd just asked she could have had a drink. Lorna encourages Irene to drown her sorrows, and they both end up unconscious in the living room with an empty bottle. Meanwhile Terry is begging for a roof over his head at the Vic. Tiffany says he can stay one night, but Grant mustn't find out. Just like every other day, Mark and Ruth argue about Jessie's mother. Jeff is still trying to fire Alex up about Kathy, saying isn't she worth fighting for, and Alex waffles on about the church. Jeff points out that the church was created by Henry VIII "So he could bonk his way round Europe" and adds that Alex's problem is that he'll never commit himself to anything or anyone. Meanwhile, Kathy invites Phil for a romantic dinner that evening. He agrees, although he has work to do so may be late. Kathy says she needs to talk to him so he agrees eventually. When he arrives, he's surprised at the effort she's gone to and says he would have dressed up if he'd known she was intending to. Kathy has obviously gone to a lot of trouble, wearing a very shiny top, and even managing to make her hair look half presentable. Phil's impressed and perhaps even a little hopeful that she's changing her mind about the divorce. Michael and Susan have a very friendly chat about the possibility of them moving back in as a family, for practical reasons. They both say how sorry they were about the marriage break-up and blame the various circumstances and themselves, finally agreeing to give it a go. Michael tells Matthew, who's thrilled, but Michael warns him that it's not back to as if they were married, just friends at the moment. Sarah returns home and when she finds the two drunken women, she panics hysterically, but Tony calms her down and takes his mother to bed, telling Sarah to leave Lorna on the sofa to sleep it off - unless she wants to call the police of course. Sarah is still running around like a headless chicken and decides that Kathy, as an ex-Samaritan, is the best person to call. Kathy is just about to broach the subject of their relationship with Phil, and the phone interrupts her. Kathy puts Sarah off, and returns to the candlelit dinner. Phil says he wanted to ask Kathy something too, but she can go first. Kathy unveils her master plan for getting Phil back and tells him simply that she had an affair with Alex. Phil assumes this is her way of telling him it's all over for good, and suppresses any reaction, but he is so upset he leaves immediately, saying what he wanted to say was nothing really. However, he vents his anger by kicking over the dustbin as he crosses the square. Credits Main cast *Mary Flaherty - Melanie Clark Pullen *Alex Healy - Richard Driscoll *Sarah Hills - Daniela Denby-Ashe *Irene Hills - Roberta Taylor *Tony Hills - Mark Homer *Terry Raymond - Gavin Richards *Tiffany Mitchell - Martine McCutcheon *Phil Mitchell - Steve McFadden *Mark Fowler - Todd Carty *Ruth Fowler - Caroline Paterson *Jeff Healy - Leslie Schofield *Kathy Mitchell - Gillian Taylforth *Michael Rose - Russell Floyd *Susan Rose - Tilly Vosburgh *Matthew Rose - Joe Absolom Guest cast * Lorna Cartwright - Janet Dibley Category:Episode Category:1998 Episodes